Join hands to fight corruption — KEEA MCE

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA), Nana Appiah Korang, has urged Ghanaians to join the fight against corruption and demand transparency and accountability from leaders.

“Let us not be afraid to ask for information and demand accurate data on government programmes and policies because none of the main issues which humanity is facing will be resolved without access to correct information”, he said.

Nana Korang was addressing a social audit management forum organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in collaboration with other stakeholders at Elmina last Tuesday.

It was on the theme: Citizens for Transparency and Accountability.

Promoting good governance

The objective is to promote good governance in Ghana by reducing corruption and improving accountability and compliance with the rule of law.

Nana Korang said excluding the weak and powerless from decision making was the cause of poverty because it denied them of those rights and created unequal power relationships.

“There is the urgent need to involve the citizens in the planning process since it is the people who know best what they want in places where they live and work”, he said.

The MCE said planners were merely people’s representatives who had been delegated the task of meeting the community’s diverse needs, stressing that doing a decent job, demanded a people-oriented approach.

“Citizens do not often use the space for community participation effectively. Community members are not often aware of their rights to participate and the spaces open to them,” he said.

Nana Korang used the occasion to appeal to assembly members in the municipality to engage their electorate and inform them of decisions taken with respect to projects and programmes being undertaken in their various communities when they attend sub-committee and assembly meetings.

Citizens engagements

He gave an assurance that the assembly would organise town hall meetings and citizens engagement forums regularly to engage with citizens and seek the inputs from stakeholders in the development of the municipality.

He commended the NCCE and various anti-corruption, rule of law and accountability programme stakeholders for the engagement.

A Deputy Director of Education in Charge of Planning and Statistics, KEEA, urged parents to enrol their children in school, adding that children who did not go to school would become a burden on them and the community.

He also called on parents to visit the schools regularly to seek the welfare of their children and check on their academic work.

An Inspector in the Ghana Police Service at Elmina, Mr Emmanuel Annan, warned against mob action and urged citizens to report everything to the police for redress.